Sick again

Yes, I'm still alive - barely. I have been sick as a dog yet again. Am starting to wonder whether I haven't managed to contract glandular fever or something, as I have been sick around six times since Christmas - most unlike me. I usually have a very hardy constitution.

I have been too sick to do any work on wonky geese - too worried that I'll slice and dice myself with the rotary cutter. And I've been busy to boot - what with visits to Melbourne and starting a new job, etc. I turned up to the first day of my new job sick and tried valiantly not to breathe or sneeze on anyone. Then on Friday I had to go back down to Melbourne for the day for a branch meeting and to meet my interstate colleagues. Let's hope I haven't infected them all. Things are looking positive - my new boss is lovely and very level-headed and even-tempered, so that's a good start! Today is a public holiday in Canberra (it's Canberra Day apparently), which is very fortunate as I was so sick this morning I would not have been able to go into the office. Let's hope I'm much improved by tomorrow morning, as I really do not want to have to call in sick in my second week on the job.

As I mentioned, I took Romily down to Melbourne the weekend before last to visit with family and friends. Here's a photo of her with my parents - affectionately known as Grandma and Huppa. My Dad's nickname came about when his eldest grandson couldn't say Grandpa - it came out as Huppa and it's stuck. It suits him though! Romily says it 'Uppa', which is pretty close. She also says 'Anma' for Grandma - who was tickled pink the first time she heard Romily say it!

Romily with her grandparents

We also went to the Baptism of my friend's daughter Alexandra - for whom I made the blue, yellow and lime green cot quilt. Alexandra is an elfin like little thing, who was agog at all the people smiling at her all day - she's such a good little baby and quite gorgeous too.

Baby Alexandra with Gabriel, Aaron and Diane

We did have a great weekend and it was so good for Romily to spend some time with her grandparents, aunt and uncle and four cousins, as well as some of my cousins and their children. It was exhausting though, and I think I'm paying for it now. Let's hope this dreadful head and chest cold recedes soon and leaves me feeling good as new again. I don't think I can take much more of being sick this year.

Romily with her four cousins - or 'boys' as she calls them all collectively!

Wonky geese!

So, taking advice, the working title of this quilt is now 'Wonky Geese' a la Gwen and Freddy. Very liberating!

I am loving the colour combo - and I again thank Patti for the inspiration! (See the purple and green quilt she made for her beautiful granddaughter Sophie here)

I sewed like a demon last night and got the purple panels made, attached the inner border to the centre and then sewed the purple panels all round. I have some gorgeous green print fabric for the outer border and then I have a reddish/brownish/orangey fabric I'm thinking of for the binding. The backing fabric is a jelly flannel - bright orange and I'll be machine quilting with purple variegated thread. No doubt I'll look back at these bright baby quilts in 10 years time and grimace at my colour selections, but, in the meantime, I really love them!

All the animals in the zoo

Carl and I took Romily to the zoo yesterday - I have an annual pass, so we only have to pay for Carl if the three of us go (kids under the age of two get in free), so it makes for a lovely outing - if the weather's not too hot. Which it wasn't. It was just lovely. We only usually get around half of the zoo, as Romily gets pretty tired after an hour and a half - those little legs have to take many more steps than ours!

We had a great time, and, at 19 months, she is becoming more interested in the animals, is able to spot them more easily, and knows some of them from the books we read her. It is becoming a more and more enjoyable excursion.

I also took my camera and had a bit of a play with the telephoto lens and took some okay shots of some of the animals in the zoo - I thought those from outside Australia might particularly like to see some of the Australian natives as well as some of the exotics.

Snow leopard (who looks like a big version of Bashka!) - definitely not from Australia!

Koala

Emu

King Cheetah (okay, so obviously not native!)

Tasmanian Devil (and funnily enough he was spinning around and around like the cartoon character!)

And my very own Romy Devil, with her keeper, er I mean father!

Professional chapter closed

Phew! I finished working yesterday at the company I've been employed at for more than the past two and a half years. I had around 14 months of leave without pay during that time so it's really only 18 months. However the last six months have draaaaged, being employed in a less meaningful job since I returned from leave after having Romily. The position I had been in before I went on leave was exciting and strategic and professionally satisfying - it was moved interstate and I didn't want to go. The job I had upon returning to work was boring, cyclical, unsatisfying and unchallenging. Not what I look for in a job!

I also suspect, although can not prove it, that my boss found me a little difficult to manage, as I don't take rubbish lying down. I think she was happy to have me in a job where we had little interaction. So it all added up to me being very unhappy at work and not using my skills, knowledge or qualifications. Therefore I had two choices - deal with it or find another job! As I mentioned in an earlier post, I have done just that :)

I am going back to work at the Department of Defence as a public servant (known as a civil servant in the US) in a job that sounds like it will be much more suited to me and I will be much suited to it. Let's hope so anyway! I have a week off before starting the new job and I'm planning to make the most of it! I am taking Romily down to Melbourne this weekend to visit friends and family and leaving Carl to have nearly three days of peace and quiet where it's just him and the cat!!

I am also going to Gymbaroo (Toddler Kindy) with Carl and Romily - I haven't been since I went back to work and then Romily wasn't walking. It should be a lot of fun to watch her participating in all the activities fully.

On the stitching front it's been very quiet. Too tired at night to do any. Hope to get a little done over the next couple of days and then I'll have something to show you.

In the meantime, another photo or two will have to do. We took Romily to the Australian National Botanic Gardens last weekend and she had a great time wandering around the place. So did we.

Gorgeous Eucaplypt

Carl & Romily with a lovely copper sundial

How could you resist this face?

Byeeee!

Water Dragon - can you see him?

The kid and the cat

Nothing quilty or crafty to show you - have made a start on the purple flying geese, but haven't got a lot to report! Thanks everyone for your kind comments on my 'wonky' geese - I am letting go of that perfectionist side of my nature and agree that the angles not going all the way to the corners won't be a problem once the quilt is done.

For anyone who wants what looks to be a great speed piecing 'recipe' for flying geese, I did what was suggested and Googled 'flying geese pattern'. Up popped this website with an excellent 'no waste method' for making Flying Geese. Well worth a surf around the whole site :)

So, as I have no other photos to show, how's about some of The Kid and The Cat? They are getting along just fine and Bashka does a good job of tolerating an over-exuberant toddler!

Feeling like a goose

Well I finally found a bit of energy this morning and while Carl and Romily were out of the house I started stitching my flying geese 'blocks' for baby Campbell's quilt. My back is much better, so I thought I'd see how I went sitting on a big fat cushion at the sewing machine - not too bad!

Until I started to sew - god my Janome gives me the irrites. I have to fiddle faddle with the bobbin casing every time I sit down to sew - it's either too loose or too tight - and I can never predict which. It catches and jumps and does lovely little snarls on the underside of the fabric. It drives me nuts. I finally got it resolved after about two hours, but I was feeling less than relaxed and happy by then.

Anyway, I finally got all my green bits pieced, pressed and sewn together. Only to discover that I had managed to really muck up my measurements and the centre part of the flying geese block doesn't extend all the way to the edge, so they look funny. I have no idea what I did wrong, although this just proves two things:

a) I am a novice quilter; and
b) Trigonometry is not my strong suit.

Ah well, live and learn I guess. What did I learn today? Buy yeself a pattern. Yes, a pattern. Stop trying to make everything from scratch. When you have mastered a pattern, then begin freewheeling!

I still like the effect. Next job is to colour match the light purples with the dark purples and stitch the outside flying geese. The inside green ones will be separated from the outside purple ones by orange, red and yellow sashing/inner border. Let's hope it all works out!!

Maybe I should call the quilt 'bandaged geese'?

Sore back

Well I'm certainly going through the wars at the moment. Just as I was recovering from another gastric infection, I've 'done my back in'. I was bending over helping Romily up our stairs and 'twang'! I suddenly felt excruciating pain and couldn't move. I had to yell out to Carl to come and get Rom and to help me move, somewhere, anywhere.

I spent that night in agony, finally managing to get some sleep, but waking up in pain every time I tried to move. Yesterday was spent in bed, trying not to move. Today I am a little improved, and can manage to hobble around the house. No bending over and no playing with Rom though, which is pretty hard on all of us. Poor Carl now has two children and a kitten to care for. He's not enjoying it much either.

I hope I'm much better by Monday - I don't want to take another day off before my last day if I can help it. And I am finding it very hard to not do anything. It's horrible! Not the way I prefer to spend time away from work...

Sydney delights

I promised to post some photos from our weekend in Sydney - finally downloaded onto the Mac, transferred via DVD to the laptop, edited and phew! Can finally post them here.

We had two nights in a lovely two-bedroom, two-bathroom, two-storey (noticing a theme here?) apartment, which overlooked Darling Harbour - on the 'back' side of Sydney CBD. A very pretty spot and a great view! If you look closely (click to enlarge), you can see the water in the bottom left corner. The funny looking building in the foreground is the entertainment centre.


And what a great night sky! For those of you who live in big cities this is probably a bit ho hum, but for we Canberra-ites, it's a little bit exciting!


And you've gotta love a complex with a pool and spa like this one.


Well Romily and Carl did anyway!


We had a great time visiting the Powerhouse Museum (had never been there before) and Rom certainly enjoyed the enclosed playground they have on their lower floor. It was a short but sweet visit - the best kind with an 18 month old toddler in tow!

I give you Jacqui O!

Well, maybe not Jacqueline Kennedy, but my very own Romily! She adores these sunglasses I bought her today - probably because Mummy and Daddy never let her handle their glasses!

And good news - I have a new job and I finally got motivated to start cutting squares and triangles for the flying geese quilt I am making for baby Campbell.

This is after I dragged myself off my 'deathbed' after succumbing to yet another mystery gastric viral infection - this one hit me the day after I resigned my job! I had to take almost two full days off work - it wasn't a good look, so I went to get a doctor's certificate to prove I was actually sick. Although any of my colleagues who saw me on Thursday knew I was, to use a very Australian term, crook as a dog. I felt like death warmed up. There's enough cliches for you!

Anyway, although I am not 100%, I felt much improved today - sufficiently compus mentis to start cutting fabric anyway. I will have to use some fusible webbing on one piece I accidentally cut 1/2" too short! Oops. By the time I quilt it, no one will ever know...I hope!

I also discovered that I need more fabric. Shame that really!

Oh and for any Aussie quilters or those further away who may be looking for some new fabrics... visit http://quiltfabricdelights.com.au/store/Default.asp

They have good prices and an amazing collection - most of which I haven't seen before (not that I get out much!).

We had a good weekend - yesterday we had about 1o adults and 6 chidren around to help celebrate Carl's birthday. It was madness and mayhem and we had to put poor little Bashkaa away in our bedroom for the day - and endure his plaintive wailings (I did go and visit him a couple of times to make sure he was okay!). But Carl and Rom had a great time - I was a trooper and tried to keep my distance from everyone so I didn't cross-infect.

Am pretty tired now, and the new season of CSI is about to debut on telly, so off I pop for a bit of choc and relaxation.

More about the new job in my next post.

Smoochy smoochy

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Today is also our 3rd wedding anniversary. Happy Anniversary honey!

I just had a flick through our wedding photos and picked out a few (one or two!) to share.


Awwww, smoochy, smoochy :)

Happy Birthday darling Carl

Happy 45th my darling Carl.



I love you and our life together. I am a very lucky woman to have found a man like you.

Bashka is here!

Just had to post some photos of our beautiful boy, who finally arrived today! Bashka is settling in beautifully and he is just gorgeous. We're all in love all over again. Especially Romily, who has said 'mau mau mau' about 5000 times today!

New toy!

We're back from our lovely but short weekend away in Sydney - we had a fantastic two-story apartment that overlooked Darling Harbour and the cityscape. I'll post some photos during the week - I haven't had a chance to download them yet.

But I have downloaded some photos from my new toy ... er camera ... and you'll never guess the subject matter!

Romily of course!






Did I mention how much I love my new camera? It's fab!

Dropped off the face of the earth

Well not quite - I can't believe it's nearly two weeks since I posted. Have been planning to show off some photos from my new camera, but have only just got around to loading the software. And I still have to download all the photos to our other computer because we still don't have a new one and this one's USB ports are busted. So I have to transfer everything via CD. A very big pain the bum!

Very busy indeed at work and at home - I've had hardly any time to myself, although I have started yoga again. It's been 18 months (yes, just before Rom was born), and I really need it. I just love yoga (I just do hatha) and have missed it a lot. It's good to be back into it again - although I've realisd just how weak I've become!

I have done absolutely no stitching or anything crafty for two weeks. What a shocker. I've just been so tired and struggling to keep my eyes open after putting Romily down for the night. Too tired by half.

Romily is going really well - she speaks about 40 words consistently at the moment, understands just about everything we ask her, answers yes or no to all our questions and has finally started saying 'ta'. She had her last jab the other day until she's four - the chicken pox vaccine has just come onto our 'free' inoculation list. I say 'free' because you still have to pay for the doctor's appointment! She is so gorgeous at the moment - 18 months is the most gorgeous age!

We're off to Sydney for the weekend after I finish work tomorrow afternoon - we haven't been there since before Romily was born. (Well I had a day trip with Rom when she was five months old, but Carl didn't come). I am looking forward to just getting out of Canberra for the weekend and just mooching about with no firm commitments, no timetables, just random, leisurely wandering!

Bashka - 13 weeks (photos from the breeder)

And to top it all off, our Bengal kitten Bashka arrives in Canberra on Monday afternoon - I can't wait - I am so excited about having a pet - it's been 10 years. I think I may even be more excited that Romily will be when she realises the 'mau' is a permanent fixture/captive target!

Sorry I haven't been keeping up to date with everyone's blogs - I have hardly been online at all.

Hopefully I'll have some stitching to report next week! Until then, take care my little chickadees!